


Come What May

by pinheaded



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Animated Series, DC Animated Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/F, Wedding, fluffy af, harlivy - Freeform, hivy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-23 00:24:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11391522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinheaded/pseuds/pinheaded
Summary: “I love you, Daffodil, and I’ll keep loving you, always, forever, come what may.”





	Come What May

Harley pulled at the bodice of her dress. The gel-padded bra was sticking to her skin like sweaty palms, but she tried not to think about that. 

She looked in the mirror. Her hair was twisted into some intricate low-bun held in place by a bobby pins and too much hairspray.  _ Too much hairspray. _ No frizz there. She poked the pretty barrette clipped in at the side. It didn’t budge. All of her makeup was still in good shape. It made her face feel twitchy, like her skin couldn’t breathe. Her coral red lipstick was making her whole mouth feel waxy. Her foundation was itchy. She wanted to wipe it off. She wanted to sit down. Her eyes looked huge. Her head felt heavy. Her thoughts were all short and clippy. The room was moving. She was feeling sorta funny. 

“How do I look?” Harley could hear how shaky her voice sounded and tried her best to look solid. 

“Great.” 

She grabbed her water bottle off of the table and unscrewed the top—she needed an excuse to swallow. “Ya’ think?” 

“Of course,” Bruce said and gave her a smile:  _ You’re doing great.  _ “We have about another fifteen minutes before we should start heading over to the gardens.” 

It hit her hard then, surged up her throat and made the whole world all tingly. She was getting married in fifteen minutes, and now she was feeling  _ really  _ funny. “Sounds good.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yup.”  

Bruce let the silence grow. So did Harley. Her heart was running like crazy.

“Are you?” he said finally. 

“Idon’tknow.” 

Harley was breathing faster with the shock of having said it out loud. She hadn’t meant to, but she couldn’t help it: she was sliding into panic. Of all the days for her to get cold feet, why her wedding day? It wasn’t that she didn’t want to marry Ivy because she did want to marry Ivy. She  _ really  _ wanted to marry Ivy, more than anything she’d ever wanted. Ivy was the love of her life, so what was she afraid of? What was this fresh fear whirling and swirling inside of her? 

She sat herself down onto floor. Everything felt too bright. The sun was reflecting off of the sparkles on her dress, dozens of little dots running up and down the walls. It gave the room a shimmery, surreal look, like something out of a fever dream. She barely noticed when Bruce sat down beside her. 

He cleared his throat. “Quinn,” he paused, swallowing, “ _ Harleen,  _ I know that...commitment is hard, especially when... _ things _ have hurt you before. But look—sometimes you just have to look past all of that and look forward. I’m sure that it’s normal to feel not ready, but from what I’ve observed, I’d say that you  _ are  _ ready.” 

“But what if I’m not? What if I mess this whole thing up? What then?” 

“I don’t have all of the answers, but I don’t think you’re going to mess anything up. I think you’re ready. You seem healthy. You seem happy. It’s a really good look on you, Harleen.”

She glanced at him, checked to see if he was mocking her, which he wasn’t. “Do ya’ really think so?” 

“Yes, I do.” He wouldn’t look her in the eye, but Harley knew he meant it. 

She wasn’t on speaking-terms with her father and both of Ivy’s parents were dead, so she’d asked Bruce to walk her down the aisle. Even though she was pretty sure he’d only said yes after some negotiating with Selina, Harley was still glad that he was here. 

Harley looked up at him gratefully and smiled. “Thanks, Rich Boy. I needed that.” 

“I’m glad I could—”

“Knock knock!” Speak of the devil... Selina Kyle opened the door without actually knocking and walked inside like she was the belle of the ball. Her dress was a pale, beige-y shade of pink that looked was almost glowing against her skin. Looking at her, you’d think she’d picked out the outfit herself—she owned it. 

When she caught sight of Harley and Bruce on the floor, she stopped, the skirt of her dress swinging around her ankles. “Oh for  _ fuck’s  _ sake.” 

“Hi,” Harley said shyly. Her heart was still driving over the speed limit, but her vision was returning to normal. 

“I see that your ‘something blue’ is your panties. Is your ‘something borrowed’ my date?” Her tone was biting, but her eyes were sparkling and her mouth was open in a smiley  _ Gotcha!  _ gape. 

Harley could feel herself drowning in a blush. She snapped her legs together and said, “You look nice.” 

“Actually, I look like a Pepto Bismol ad campaign that tried to incorporate sex appeal, but thank you anyways, dear.” Selina set her purse down on the table and started digging through it. “I swear, you and Ivy are a match made in hell.” 

“What makes ya’ say that?” 

“A _ ha. _ ” She pulled out something shiny, gave it a quick kiss, and brought it over to Harley _. _ “Here, try some of this.” 

“Really, Selina?” 

“Put a sock in it, Bruce. Scotch works  _ wonders  _ on the nervous system.”

“So does deep breathing.” 

She snorted. “And so does, em,  _ meditation _ , and a healthy, em,  _ balanced diet _ .” Her voice was reedy and mocking and sounded nothing like Bruce. “I hear that, em,  _ praying to God _ can also, em, help with that, too. Alcohol is the devil’s elixir! Judgment is coming!” 

Harley grabbed the flask from her hand, took a mouthful. It was warm and tasted like dirt. She felt better already. 

Bruce grinned, shaking his head. “When have I ever said anything even remotely like that?” 

Selina shooed away his response and said to Harley, “Bruce doesn’t approve of my drinking. He thinks I’m a ‘bad influence.’” She met Harley’s gaze with eyes that said  _ Puke.  _ Then, gesturing to the flask,“I’m sorry if there isn’t much left. Ivy’s liver needed a lot of TLC.”

Harley took another swig and managed to avoid making a face. “Is she nervous, too?”  

“Don’t tell her I said this, but between you and me?” Selina gave her a wicked grin and leaned in close enough for Harley to smell the spearmint off of her breath. “She’s  _ petrified. _ ” 

Harley finished off the flask and let herself laugh. “Yeah?” 

“Absolutely,” Selina said. “Now stand up. It’s almost go time.” 

Harley looked uncertainly at Bruce and tried to ignore the leap of something in her stomach. 

“It’s okay,” Bruce told her, soothing, rhythmic. He stood up. “You’ve got this.” 

He helped Harley up to her feet and she immediately felt a little woozy. “Wow. Head rush.”  _ Wow. Scotch.  _

“Alright,” Selina put her hands on Harley’s shoulders and gave them a little squeeze. “I’ve gotta go find Eddie because we’re walking in five. Try not to shit yourself, okay? It’d be a shame if you ruined such a pretty dress. You look beautiful. You’ll do great. Deep breaths. Good luck!” 

Harley could hear the echo of her heels bouncing off the ceiling as she walked out the door. 

“I’m totally gonna shit myself.” 

“Maybe don’t do that,” said Bruce, not entirely sure whether Harley was serious. 

“Easier said than done.” They began to make their way out of the building. 

Harley groaned and tried to get her teeth to stop chattering. “I’m real nervous.” 

“I know you are, but it’ll be worth it in the end. Just look at Ivy and everything will be fine.” 

And then all too quickly they were at the door. Ivy was just beyond it, standing in the center of the garden, waiting for her. The thought grounded her like a clash of symbols, straightened her spine.  _ This was it.  _

“Ready?” 

Harley took a deep breath, forcing the air to pool in her belly before letting it out. “I guess.”

She took Bruce’s hand and opened the door. 

The air was instantly and utterly different, breezy and warm, little eddies spinning here and there. The floor of the garden was layers of green upon green, unrolling beneath her feet like a red carpet. Every color was leaping.  

There was a trail of white and yellow rose petals leading down the “aisle.” They were fake—Ivy wouldn’t have it any other way—but pretty. Everything was coated in a sheet of dusty sunshine, and Harley wondered if she’d ever seen a more beautiful day.  

And then she saw Ivy. 

_ Oh, wow.  _

She was standing at the altar in a fitted white dress with a train that spread out over the grass below her, a crown of yellow daffodils laced into her hair. At that moment, she made a lovely picture: the fall of copper curls and the splash of yellow, poised against the sunlight and sky behind her. She was  _ stunning.  _

Harley put one foot in front of the other until they were facing each other. There was music, but she hardly heard it.  

“You’re so beautiful,” Ivy whispered to her. 

Her cheeks flushed and she laughed. “You are, too.” 

She couldn’t tell if it was the sun or the Scotch dancing in her belly, but she was feeling much better. She was experiencing real in flashes so vivid they made her head spin, made her forget she’d ever experienced any other sort of reality. Now that she thought about it, “wife” had a really nice ring to it. 

“Dear friends and family, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union between Harleen Francis Quinzel and Pamela Lillian Isley in marriage.” The wedding officiant was an older man with a long white beard and dimples who Harley had picked because he reminded her of Walt Whitman. 

_ Nervous?  _ Ivy mouthed to her.

_ Yes. _

_ Me too. _

Ivy smiled and Harley felt her shoulders drop.

Walt Whitman switched his attention to just the two of them. “Love is patient and kind. Do not love in word or speech only; love also in deed and truth. Receive each other in sincerity, find mercy and grow old together.” 

_ Was that from the Bible? _ She didn't dare look at her mother. In retrospect, she probably should've gotten a rabbi. 

“We will now begin the exchange of the vows,” he said pleasantly enough. Harley was just glad that he was done talking. 

With a small nod, Selina handed Ivy a folded piece of paper. 

Ivy took a deep breath and opened the paper, her hands trembling.  

“Before I met you, I thought I could make everything bloom. I  could turn concrete to chrysanthemums, trash to tulips, ash to azalea. I could draw flowers out of thin air, like they were all tumbling out of some endless basket no one else could see. I thought I could make everything bloom, but I was wrong. While everything I touched blossomed, I didn’t. I was dried out and yellowed inside. I couldn’t flower. Then I met you. You loved and nurtured me, watered me everyday and didn’t stop when it got hard. You were the light that I needed to grow, the soil over my roots.  It was under your care that I was finally able to bloom. I am Mother Nature, but you are the true gardener. 

I’m proud of the way we love each other, Harley. We had nothing to learn from but broken hearts, no one to teach us but others’ mistakes. We didn’t have good examples, so we taught ourselves how to love, how to  _ grow _ . Our love is a garden that will forever be in bloom. I love you, Daffodil, and I’ll keep loving you, always, forever, come what may.” 

Ivy’s eyes were covered in a beautiful soft mist, but Harley’s eyes were pouring, dragging her mascara down her cheeks. Her mind was a dazzled mess of  _ forever. Yes, forever. Always forever.  _ She knew that she was supposed to say her vows now, but she couldn’t wait another second before she kissed the bride. She tipped Ivy’s head towards the sky and did just that, with more warmth than her unread vows could ever hope to convey. 

_ Always,  _ she thought as she heard claps from the guests.  _ Forever. Come what may.  _


End file.
